PG&E Customers Still Have Time To Save Money This Summer By Signing Up For SmartRate™ Pricing Plan

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced today that residential customers with electric SmartMeters™ still have time to save money this summer just by signing up for the SmartRate™ pricing plan and conserving energy on a handful of hot afternoons. Customers who enroll in August are eligible for a limited-time offer of $25, and they will enjoy bill protection both this season and next —meaning they can't lose money by signing up.

The plan gives customers a general price reduction of three-to-four cents per kilowatt-hour from June through September. On a few hot afternoons during the warm-weather season, when demand is especially high, the rate temporarily increases by 60 cents per kilowatt-hour to encourage customers to conserve and shift energy use outside of peak times. At most, only 15 "SmartDays" are called each season—and never on weekends or holidays.

Customers who participated in SmartRate™ last summer saved an average of eight to nine percent on their summer electric bills. All it takes is turning up the thermostat a few degrees on "SmartDay" afternoons and running dishwashers, dryers, vacuums, and other appliances in the morning or evening. Such simple steps also help keep the air cleaner and lower greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the need to run generators during peak periods.

SmartRate is available across PG&E's service area to any residential electric customer with a SmartMeter. As of the end of July, more than 61,000 customers were enrolled, an increase of about 42,000 since May. To sign up, customers just log on to their My Energy page and click on the "Enroll in SmartRate™" link on the lower left side.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation's cleanest energy to 15 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/ and www.pgecurrents.com.

SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company